


An Army Out of Nowhere

by 20SomethingSuperHeroes



Series: Memoirs of a Jedi Apprentice [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Battle, Clone Wars, Gen, Lightsabers, Post-Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 04:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6500989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20SomethingSuperHeroes/pseuds/20SomethingSuperHeroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While on assignment for the Jedi Order, Master Nish and Yzil are kicked out of formal negotiations with the Separatists. Fortunately when diplomacy fails, it's always nice to have an army up your sleeve, and Nish and Yzil come to find out they've got one to do the job.</p><p>Setting: 22 BBY, concurrent with the events of "Attack of the Clones."</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Army Out of Nowhere

I suppose the motto of the Republic in those days was “Have army, will fight.” Because there was no such thing as a standing military right up until the Senate granted Chancellor Palpatine ‘emergency powers.’ Master Phish Nish felt that, as inevitable as a war was, if one broke out, the Jedi would be overwhelmed. That made him very nervous. No one had any idea where an army would come from, if it was created. But in the meantime, the best we could do, my master said, was to continue to negotiate with the Separatists to see if they would renounce their intentions or at least their desires to fight against the Republic, and keep the rest of the Republic together as much as possible. He was never as fond of being a diplomat, however, as helping individual people in need, or just staying at the Jedi temple, meditating and studying the ways of the Force.

We never heard about the attempted assassination of Senator Amidala that supposedly started the Clone Wars until the details were shrouded in rumor, for some time before that had happened Master Nish and I were sent to the industrial planet of Mashon to negotiate a treaty with the governing council that would hopefully convince them to not join the Separatists. By the time we arrived, representatives from the Separatists had already arrived to broker their own deal with the rulers of Mashon, and Nish and I had the hard task of trying to placate both. We didn’t dare find lodgings on the planet, for there were spies and assassins everywhere working for both sides and third parties trying to profit from the chaos. Instead, we kept our ambassadorial ship in orbit above the planet and went down every day in a shuttle to negotiate with the Separatist and planetary leaders. The talks, as was too often the case in those days, got nowhere.

The last time we tried this, we landed in the hanger of the capital building for what we thought was to be another day of pointless talking. But then when the door of our transport opened, the people we had come to talk to were waiting for us--with a row of armed security guards right behind them. No blasters pointed at us yet, but still. It was unnerving. Master Nish mentally nudged me to keep calm while he did the talking. 

At the head of the group was Trandoshan named Bheeg Wig, a lackey of Watt Tambor and the Techno Union and a bully. The leaders of the other parties participating in the talks had apparently cowed over to him.

“Well, Bheeg Wig,” said Master Nish, surveying the scene cooly, “What’s with the welcoming committee?”

“Precisely the opposite, Master Jedi,” said Bheeg Wig. “You have, in fact, overstayed your welcome. We have decided that the Republic need no longer meddle in the affairs of Mashon.”

“And you have decided this without having ambassadors from the Republic present to give you their views on the matter?”

“As if your views were necessary!” Bheeg Wig laughed. 

I sensed that some more security guards were coming behind us and tugged on Nish’s sleeve.

“Not now, Yzil!” he muttered. “Well, Bheeg Wig, if you think our presence is no longer necessary, then we will depart.”

“Now, really, Master Nish,” said one of Bheeg Wig’s cronies, a particularly ugly squid-head, “for such an all-powerful Jedi, you are so naive to assume we’d let you.” He was holding up a pistol and he aimed it at us. 

“Oh, no,” I muttered. 

Now, Nish told me through the Force. We had our lightsabers out precisely in time to meet the first few rounds of blasters that were fired at us. 

Run, Yzil! Master Nish said to me. Get out of the hanger! I was trying to deflect blasters incoming from all around me and even hand-to-hand fighting a guard that had gotten too close. I could barely comprehend what Nish was saying to me mentally over the commotion. And I could not grasp the meaning of what he intended for me to do. But then he walked backwards up the ramp of our shuttle and put away his lightsaber. Confused, I turned to follow him, but he used the Force on me and pushed me off the walkway. I dropped and rolled as the shuttle door closed. The Separatist guards and I exchanged looks as the shuttle engine revved to life.

Master, you’re not trying to abandon me are you? I wanted to communicate this to him, but the Separatists pointing guns at me had my attention. 

I picked up my lightsaber and switched it back on as the shuttle began to rise out of the hanger. The Separatists regained their senses and the firing resumed in earnest. I killed a lot more sentients that day than I am comfortable to admit, even in the heat of combat (but one of them was Bheeg Wig’s ugly friend, though--I have no regrets about that). And then this big gun that the goons had set up in the hanger came out of the ceiling and fired at the shuttle, but Master Nish got it out before it was fully loaded and dodged the blasts that followed it out.

Follow me! he urged me with his mind. 

I turned from the fight and ran out of the hanger, which was open on the side to Mashon City. I had caused enough damage that I had a decent head start, and I heard Bheeg Wig shouting at them to go after me.

But where are you going? I asked Phish as I ran down to the street. 

I am not abandoning you, little one. Follow me. Instead of turning upward into space, Master Nish kept the shuttle cruising above the ground. As I ran into the city, dodging traffic as I ran, Master Nish’s plan became clear to me through the Force: he was going to find a place on the surface for us to meet up, and then we would go into hiding together. I just had to follow him the best I could. I decided I would find a speeder to hijack.. As I ran down the street I heard engines revving behind me and crashing into the crosswise traffic, and then when lasers were being fired at me I turned around. Bheeg Wig’s security chief Kamon Zar, a Devaronian with a pointy nose, was leading the whole security team behind me on speeder bikes. I dodged into a parking lot and found an abandoned speeder that some poor soul had left the keys inside of. 

I got in and drove away just as the Separatists were getting off their bikes in the parking lot. They got back on quickly to chase me. Our shuttle had gained a great distance ahead of me in the sky but was going a bit slower than the other craft at that altitude. I had to zigzag through traffic and turn on the accelerator to catch it. I also had to dodge blaster fire as I went. Believe me, it was hard not to wish I could shoot back.

I had a vision of a mountain on the edge of the city. That was where we would meet. I needed to shake off the pursuit first, however. Kamon Zar wasn’t giving up that easily. So I turned to the right and led them down a narrow alleyway. Several of their bikes crashed behind me, but Kamon Zar and a few ringleaders hung doggedly on. So then I crashed my speeder into an oncoming wall, and as I braced for impact I curled into fetal position and used the Force to bend the metal around me like a shell. But it was still crumpled enough on the outside, however, to give a false impression. 

Zar and his cronies parked and examined the wreckage. None of them liked getting their hands dirty enough to see what was inside the smoldering heap, so mind-tricking some of his less intelligent friends I persuaded the Separatist goons to leave me well alone. 

When they were long gone on their speeders, I used the Force and moved the wreckage from around me. It had smelled, and I was hot and sweaty and icky. I had a few bruises and cuts and a particularly nasty scrape on my wrist. I was in a shabby part of town. I darted down an alleyway until I could find another speeder to hijack, and this one I drove up the mountain.

Master Nish was waiting for me outside of the shuttle. 

“What were you thinking, Master?” I said as I got off the speeder and walked up to him. 

“I was thinking we could split up and lead them separate ways--is that really such a bad strategy?”

“Well, it seems like we caused a lot more damage than what we were sent to fix!” I said. “What are we going to tell the Jedi council? That we bailed on the negotiations?”

“You know, I thought you would be capable enough to handle them by yourself without making a mess while I took the shuttle.”

“I’m not such a terrible pilot, Master. Am I?”

He shook his head. In truth, I was a lousy pilot. But at that moment I realized he was just glad that I was okay.

“We won’t be reporting on anything to the Jedi Council quite yet,” said Nish. “We’re not even going to leave Mashon for the time being.”

“What’ll we do, then? Go back to the ship?”

“Not even. There’s an emergency supply of food on the shuttle. We’ll camp out here for a few days and see what happens. The Separatists are a lot more in control of things here than I thought possible. I have sent a recorded message to the Council stating the situation here. But until they respond I do not think it wise to act. This is a far bigger problem than just the two of us can solve.” 

I walked up to the shuttle and leaned against one of the door supports. “It seems like every other system in the galaxy is having problems like this.” That was a nice way of stating how hopeless it was. 

Master Nish treated my injuries. Later that afternoon we saw a large ship leaving the hangar of the capital. We presumed it was Bheeg Wig’s craft, so we guessed that he wasn’t up to anything good.

 

Several days we waited, eating the MRIs in the emergency food supply. We told our ship in orbit to go back to Coruscant without us. Master Nish felt that he needed to stay, even though it didn’t seem like there was a likely solution to our problem. 

After I had pointed this out for the tenth time, though, Master Nish said to me, “Trust in the Force, Yzil. A solution may yet present itself.”

We had been on Mashon a week when Bheeg Wig’s craft returned, but he wasn’t alone. Four or five large vessels came with it, each armed to the teeth with laser cannons. They floated over Mashon City like dark clouds. And then to the edge of town came a gigantic bi-winged vessel.

Master Nish was thunderstruck.

“What is it, Master?” I asked him.

“That’s a Trade Federation troop transport!” he said. “There’ll be at least a thousand battle droids in there!”

“Battle droids? Are they going to attack the city?”

“No,” said Nish. “They’re here to make sure that the Separatists stay in control.” Off to the side we saw at least two other landing craft. 

I felt sick to my stomach. Now the situation was truly hopeless.

 

Later that afternoon, we lost contact with our ship. They had been attacked and blown up by the Separatists. We ate dinner that evening in the cockpit of our shuttle, the both of us feeling gloomy. Then, suddenly, the hologram came on.

“Master Phish Nish. Come in Master Nish.” The connection was fuzzy but Master Nish adjusted it quickly. It was Master Mace Windu.

“Master Nish is online,” my master said.

“Are you all right?” Windu asked.

“We are both fine, my padawan and I. We have been hiding out on the edge of Mashon City for quite some time. But nobody’s come after us. What news do you have?”

“There is quite a bit to explain,” Windu said, “but war has broken out on Geonosis. The Chancellor was given emergency powers to create a Grand Army of the Republic. It is manned by clones that were produced on Kamino, supposedly on behalf of the Republic and the Jedi.”

This was a lot to take in for Master Nish, and he could only muster a response for the last bit. “But that’s preposterous! Armies don’t just materialize out of thin air!”

This one did, I shrugged. 

“We don’t have time for this,” said Master Windu. “We are sending ten thousand troops to Mashon to assist you. I would say more, but there are other Jedi throughout the Galaxy that we need to get a hold of. May the Force be with you.”

Master Nish nodded feebly as the transmission ended. It was one of those very few times that he was at a loss for words.

He looked up at me and said, “I figured at the rate things were going it was going to take a great deal of violence to resolve this anyway. But don’t you find this a little odd, Yzil, that at the precise moment when we need an army there just happens to be one on Kamino?”

“Hm.” It was hard to say. I had come across fishier things in my brief career as a padawan. But on the other hand, having an entire army at our disposal was a huge deal. 

“Well, if we use this resource right,” Nish said with his arms folded, “it won’t matter a whole lot where this army came from. We’ll put them to work, if they’re sending them to us. Ten thousand troops, good gracious!”

I still had my doubts. “Well, we’ll see if they can keep this mess under control.”

 

I mostly didn’t believe we actually had an army until they arrived. The next day, we received another hologram call. The figure that appeared on the other end was a man with an odd accent that wore a full suit of white armor.

“Calling, Jedi Master Phish Nish. Master Nish, do you read me?”

We had both been distracted when the call came, but jumped to attention at once.

“We’re reading you,” said Master Nish. “Who is this?”

“This is Regimental Commander CC-2776 of the 137th Legion of the Grand Army of the Republic. We have been assigned by the Supreme Chancellor to fight at your side.”

“Erm, yes, well, I suppose you’re welcome,” said Master Nish. 

“What is the situation on Mashon?”

“The Separatists kicked us out of our negotiations. My apprentice and I are in hiding. A droid army has landed in Mashon City and in various regions round about. I would not be surprised if they are occupying the entire planet.”

“Do you have any information you could give us about their positions?”

“Not...specifically,” said Master Nish. “I am afraid my apprentice and I have been a little concerned with keeping a low profile.”

“That’s understandable,” said the clone commander. “We will come as soon as we can to help you out.” 

“All right. Then we will look forward to your assistance.”

The hologram faded. Master Nish stared at the hologram pad, scowling. 

“You said to trust in the Force and that help would come. Is this what you meant?” I asked him.

“I don’t know,” said Master Nish. “I mean, yes, of course it is. Obviously. But...it seems…”

“Too much too soon?”

“Yes. That’s probably the right way to say it.” 

 

The next day, the Commander called us again to say they had arrived. We went outside of our shuttle for a look. There was an enormous transport parked in the sky above us, an Acclamator-class assault ship (the kind that were the forerunners to the Star Destroyers). The droid armies stationed city below us showed no signs of alarm or preparation for a counter-attack, but who knew how long that would last. So Master Nish and I climbed back into the shuttle and flew up to meet our newly-arrived help.

“Commander, this is Master Phish Nish. We’re coming up to meet you,” he messaged him.

“Come to the landing bay on the top of the ship.”

We flew to the topside of the ship. The bay doors opened and Master Nish gently guided the shuttle inside, and we parked it.

We let the door down. Our first sight was several rows of orderly clone troops in white armor, standing at attention in the hangar with their blaster rifles held in rest position. When we came down, someone barked a command, and they stood back. And one wearing a large collar came forward to meet us. He removed his helmet. His face was slightly long with a medium-sized nose, and he had short-cropped dark hair and an average nose, and brown eyes.

“I am Commander CC-2776. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

Master Nish and I bowed. The interior of the assault ship was gray, and parked in its other alcoves were smaller craft and transports. CC-2776 showed us some of the other vessels--the gunships, the tanks and the walkers. He also gave us a tour of the rest of the ship and introduced us to the captain of our ship, the Resilient, while Master Nish filled him in on what had happened in the failed negotiations.

“It seems like we came just in time,” the Commander commented. “Well, we’ll give the droid army what for. From what we’ve been able to pick up from scanning the planet and based on our intelligence, they have sent droids to occupy every major city on the planet. The citizens are loyal to the Republic, but their leaders are determined to ensure that the Separatists stay in charge at any cost.” We went back to the hanger. 

“Can we send a message to the people to tell them to evacuate the areas where we will be fighting?”

“I think we can,” said the Commander. “I was about to send some stealth fliers to go scout out the droids’ fortifications and defensive positions. You are welcome to come with us, if you would like.”

“Of course, yes,” said Master Nish. We returned to the hangar.

“I need six stealth fliers to scout out the area around Mashon City,” said CC-2776. “And I want a gunship ready to go in as soon as possible.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” some of the clones shouted as they saluted us, leaving to prepare the various vessels for launch.

“And there’s ten thousand troops in this legion,” said Master Nish. “Are they all on this vessel?”

“No, there is a fleet of twenty other ships here in this sector. We’re just the advance party.”

“The advance?” Master Nish was staggered.

“Yes, sir. And one other thing--troops, at attention!” he shouted to all of the clones, those who were busy and those who remained unoccupied. “This here is Jedi Master Phis Nish and his apprentice Ereh Saw Yzil. You will address them as ‘General’ and ‘Commander.’”

“Sir, yes, sir!” shouted some of the clones.

“Those of you not scouting, prepare for battle. Dismissed.” The remaining troopers saluted and dispersed. 

“Whoa, wait, I’m a General?” asked Nish.

“Yes. This army is at your command, sir,” said the Commander. 

Master Nish wanted to protest, but all he could manage was a sigh and a heavy, “Oh, all right, then.” 

We walked toward one of the parked gunships and climbed aboard. There was nowhere to sit, but we stood and hung our arms on the supports inside.

“Me?” I asked myself quietly. “A commander? Commander Ereh Saw Yzil. Commander Yzil.” I wasn’t sure how the title suited me any more than I thought the title “General” suited Master Nish. It appeared that we had been drafted.

The bay doors opened. Six small stealth craft zoomed out of the hangar, and we followed on our gunship: me, Master Nish, the Commander, two of his corporals, and three regulars. The gunship also had two pilots. They all kept their helmets on.

The sides of the Low Altitude Assault Transport (LAAT) gunship were open to the wind that rushed past us, and on our descent to the planet’s surface we were nearly blown out of it. I was apprehensive that the Separatists would at least try to fire on us as we zoomed past. We kept our distance from the city and went into the industrial complexes beyond it. There wasn’t a lot of droid activity out there. One of the corporals handed the lieutenant a data-pad, the screen of which lit up with incoming transmissions from the stealth fliers, who were scouting out a radius of about three hundred miles around Mashon City. 

The Commander showed us a map of the region on the datapad. The Separatist defenses were marked in red as the transmissions came in. “The droids have set up defenses here, here, and here,” he said, pointing. “They have formed a defensive perimeter around the city and some of the bigger industrial complexes, as well as inside and around the Capitol building. They have also taken up residence in this complex on the edge of town.” 

“Hm. I suggest we try to concentrate our forces on the city and go outward,” said Master Nish. “But you and I will lead a force to take the Separatists’ defensive line in the center of the city and capture their leaders in the Capitol complex.”

“As you wish, sir,” said the Commander. He used a comlink communicator built into his gauntlet to relay my master’s orders. 

As we flew around, we took our own notes of the droid defense systems while staying beyond targeting range. After two hours of flying around making observations, the stealth ships had collected enough data for us to get a pretty good idea of what was going on, and we returned to the Resilient. Within a five-hundred mile radius, the droids were concentrated mostly around the city and in a few other pockets of industrial areas, but they were spreading out slowly. If we attacked soon, we would have them. 

Our strategy was to attack the city first with the group that had arrived on the Resilient. The other ships in our fleet--yes, we had our own fleet!--had just arrived in the system and the troops on those transports would set up a perimeter around Mashon City and start attacking the other areas of the planet that the droids were occupying. Master Nish and I would return to the center with a group of five thousand troops and another five thousand would be sent to attack the droid defenses on the edge. 

The Separatist battleships stationed over the city went up to space to attack our other battle cruisers as they arrived. The Resilient headed to the surface and left the other transports to do the fighting. The battle for Mashon had begun. 

We were shown to lodgings on the ship and took a brief rest while the clone troopers prepared their equipment and armor for the ground battle. Then we went to the bridge of the Resilient to plan out our attack.

The Commander and two of his officers came up to us and held out a hologram of the city in midair.

“What are your orders for the attack, sir?”

“We will go to the central square of the city, jumping out of our gunships as they pass over. Our target area will be in front of this line of droid defense near the Capitol,” he said, indicating part of the hologram. Tell your troops to avoid damaging the buildings or the factories as much as possible. Whatever soldiers are not involved directly in the fighting, tell them to keep the civilians out of the way.”

“Very well, sir,” said one of the officers. We followed them onto a gunship.

“General Nish, sir,” said the Commader as we boarded, “wouldn’t it be more reasonable for you and Commander Yzil to remove your robes? They are a bit impractical.”

“You are quite right,” said Master Nish. “I suppose we can leave them here.” We handed our Jedi robes to one of the ship’s officers who was waiting nearby. “Here, keep these in our quarters, will you?” I had rarely seen Master Nish without his robes, and I felt a little colder without mine. 

He smirked when he saw the look on my face. “I suppose we’ll have to get used to it.”

The Commander radioed his orders to other clone units. The bay doors opened and our LAAT, followed by at least ten others, flew out to the battle. We were followed by six vessels carrying tanks that moved on feet rather than repulsors--you didn’t see “walking” craft every day.

Immediately on seeing us, Separatist anti-ship guns stationed on the ground opened fire at us. Two of the gunships flying near us were hit and exploded. We also nearly had a collision with another gunship flying next to us. 

“We’re approaching our target area for landing, Sir,” said the Commander, yelling over the roar of the wind and gunfire.

“Good! Tell everyone to get ready to jump out,” said Master Nish.

Of course Phish and I would be using the Force to direct our fall. But these clone troopers were trained to jump from great heights without the use of parachutes--a parachute would have been one more thing for the droids to shoot at.

One of the other troopers flying with us looked at me--or at least he was looking in my direction, it was hard to be sure without the Force, what they were looking at from under those helmets.

“You ever jumped out of a moving ship before, Commander Yzil?” He asked me.

I laughed nervously. “A first time for everything.” With my training, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. 

Master Nish shook his head. I was so sheltered.

I was already used to the rushing air of the open riding space, but looking down, the wind whipped my Padawan braid uncomfortably over my face, and I had to blink quite a bit. But I still had a nasty feeling about how far down we’d have to jump. Our gunships were headed for a large square in the middle of the city.

“Are you sure about this, Master?” I tried yelling at him over the roaring breeze. “We might just get shot at on the way down.”

“Worry more about the droids who will shoot at us when we get there,” he yelled back. “Got your lightsaber ready?” I nodded. “Hang onto it and be ready to turn it on. When you’re ready, Commander.”

The Commander nodded. Master Nish jumped. I jumped after him almost without thinking. Then I was yelling on my way down. We were free-falling for a little-bit. Master Nish was falling face-first straight as a pencil and pulled himself up like a swimmer. But I was falling with my arms and legs spread out. Master Nish heard me and was very irritated about it. “Get a grip on yourself, Yzil!” he shouted. “Use the Force for goodness’ sakes!” (So yes, if anyone asks, I have been skydiving). 

At this point, we were only a few hundred meters above the ground. We could see the droid army mobilizing in the center of the city, the skinny Trade Federation battle droids and the tall, black and heavily armored super battle-droids that resembled bugs, in my humble opinion. And there were Trade Federation tanks and spider-droid tanks as well. And everything on the ground that could shoot was firing at us. They didn’t hit us, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. 

The clone troopers behind us were an impressive sight, keeping their bodies in straight poses as they descended and holding their rifles at the ready. As more of the gunships passed overhead, more clones jumped out.

Finally our feet touched the ground. I had clung to my lightsaber so tightly during the fall that I felt it was glued to my hand. But I pressed the power switch and the green blade came out with a whoosh. Master Nish’s purple blade was out, and we ran headlong to face the droids. 

It wasn’t quite like deflecting laser blasts from training remotes the younglings used at the Jedi Temple, and I wasn’t prepared for how fast and repeatedly the blaster shots came at us from all directions, and for the noise they caused. It only got louder when the clones landed behind us and started firing their rifles. When Nish and I were close enough to see the droids’ vision sensors we started slicing them into pieces. I had to be careful not to step in the wreckage as I went. I nearly tripped a few times and once got my foot tangled in a droid’s wiring. 

A Trade Federation tank close to where we had landed pulled up and fired in our direction, tearing up the pavement and scattering the clones that followed us. Master Nish and I dodged a few. One blast came right at us and we split up just in time, and it made a small crater where we had been a second before. They were so loud, when they hit they broke everything solid into tiny pieces and we’d be rained on by dust and debris, and the noise would hurt my eardrums and the light blinded me. And then, of course, there was the smell of fuel and smoke and fumes and whatever the shot had hit burning around me.

Some clone troopers from a gunship came after us and parked a heavy machine blaster at the nearest tanker, and it did enough damage to cripple it. Then our walkers that had come from the Resilient started to come up into the square behind us and shoot their own cannon-blasts over our head. The droids in the path of the blasts literally rained on us in pieces. The Separatist tanks were totaled. 

Endless streams of droids came out from behind their tanks and heavy artillery to engage with us and the clones. Those that weren’t blasted by our big guns were shot down by the clones, who formed a perimeter at the edge of the square to keep them from getting into the city streets beyond to attack civilians. Phish and I had our lightsabers out. I got in plenty of good practice deflecting blasters, even bouncing back the shots to the droids a few times. 

It seemed like the Separatists’ only advantage with their army was sheer force of numbers. The regular battle droids weren’t really that durable, one or two blaster shots and they were finished. The super battle droids, on the other hand, were scary. They had built-in lasers in their heavy arms and some of them were fitted with heavy harpoons. Once when I was leading a charge of troopers to stop a group of battle droids heading around the block, a big super battle droid fired a harpoon. I heard it coming but didn’t think to dodge it until one of the clones behind me shouted “Look out!” I looked up and saw the harpoon headed right for my face. I ducked and rolled. The harpoon flew right through where I had been standing and then took out the side of a building behind me. Two of the clones walked up to me and one helped me to my feet.

“Are you all right, Commander Yzil?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I answered breathlessly, shaking the dust off of my tunic. I picked up my lightsaber and turned it back on again. I made a note to myself to avoid the super battle droids as much as possible. The clones with me didn’t mind fighting them for me, although they got hurt pretty badly when the confrontation got too close. So I kept myself occupied fighting the regular battle droids, leading my troops around the square to meet the oncoming waves. 

I wasn’t that much of a commander in that first battle, except for rallying the clones every so often to corner more droids--I just shouted at whoever was closest to me and yelled at them to follow. Poor guys, I must have been confusing them. I was mostly focused on destroying as many droids shooting at me as much as possible. Being in battle, period, is difficult because there’s so much going on at once. Master Nish, however, was sending off clone detachments on specific errands, taking out parts of the droids’ position while setting up our own, assigning small teams to gang up on the droid tanks and heavy guns and take them out with explosives. For him, it was exhausting but much more straightforward. He’d been in firefights before. But even for a Jedi of his experience, he told me later, there was a learning curve for leading an army.

After a while, my luck ran out and I did have to confront one of the big super battle-droids. It was when Master Nish and some of the clones had set up a line in the middle of the city not three hundred yards from the Separatist defense and he and the Commander watched as the other troops advanced. I was charged with making sure nothing got through our flank--which did happen. During the fighting, I turned around and one of the big, black droids was standing behind me. This one had been able to rub enough circuits together (whether programmed or on its own) to not fire at clueless Yzil and take her by surprise. I don’t know how my clones didn’t notice him, either. But anyway, the guy was right behind me, I looked up at his sensors and he looked down at me, and then he stepped back and raised his arms and I could hear his guns warming up. I did a backflip over its head to make it turn around. Then I got out my lightsaber and slashed its legs--it collapsed to the ground, still functioning enough to want to shoot me, but I cut off its arms and then cut up the chest. 

The clone troopers had just barely noticed what I was doing and they looked up. I guess they were supposed to look after us Jedi, because otherwise I couldn’t account for their concern. Master Nish had just seen me, too.

“Hey, you got a big one!” shouted one of the troopers.

“Yeah,” I panted, my mind hadn’t entirely processed my small victory yet. “It’s their legs--their legs are actually really skinny. Go for those.” 

“Well, thanks for the tip, Commander Obvious,” Master Nish called over to me. The Clone Commander was standing close to him. “Commander, have we broken through their perimeter yet?”

“We’re getting close, sir,” said the Commander, looking through a pair of macrobinoculars between the tanks in our barricade. 

“Good. I need you to call in a battalion. Have them line up here and be ready to go in as soon as we’ve broken through. We are going into the Capitol at our first chance.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I want two more battalions on our flanks to cover for us, cut off the droids coming at us from the sides.”

“Yes, sir.” The Commander started to radio in his orders. “Anything else I can do for you, sir?”

“Yes. Get air support over the Capitol. Nothing goes in or out. I want the Separatist leaders captured alive.”

“Yes, sir.” The Commander relayed this over his radio. In the distance we could see two more ships from our fleet appearing above the clouds, and out of them came a steady stream of gunships with more tanks and troops to deploy. These legions were the 201st and the 131st. A good number of these gunships landed in the square with us and the commanders of these troops reported to our commander. Most of them, however, went to secure other parts of the city and the surrounding industrial complexes.

Master Nish caught me staring.

“Yzil, get back to fighting. You have troops to command.”

“Oh, er, right sir,” I said, running back to the far side of the square where our troops were trying to cut off the droids. Most of the shooting and fighting at that point, however, was at the front with Master Nish. The battalion that Nish had requested to storm the Capitol started to form up in the square behind our lines. We had most of the heavy droid artillery pinned in front of us and we were starting to squeeze them in from the sides. 

The troops I was with started to fall back once the dust had settled, but I was kind of confused to see them leaving at first.

“Where are you guys going?” I asked them, looking around wildly.

“We’re supposed to fall in with the others to take the Capitol,” one of the troopers close to me said. “The new arrivals will secure the streets.” 

“All right, I guess so,” I said, turning off my lightsaber and following the guys I was with to the front of the line. When I arrived, I found my master talking to the Commander about our plans for the attack, designating which groups he wanted to go where.

He looked up and saw me. “There you are, Yzil. I need you to take a company to the rear with Captain CK--which one was it?” he asked the Commander.

“CT-2427, Sir.”

“Yes, ask for 2427, when the rest of the battalion storms the Capitol, I need you to take his company and guard the entrance.”

“What--wait, Master, can’t I go with you?”

Master Nish sighed. “Yzil. We’ve discussed this before. You can’t just ask to come with me when I need you to do something else specific.” 

“It’s not that I can’t do it, Master,” I said, “but I would much rather stay near you.”

“Yzil, please,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s all the same to me, General,” the commander spoke up. “She can go with you if she wants. 2427 can handle himself all right.”

My master looked up at the commander. “I am sure that my apprentice can handle herself just as well, if not better. Besides, it’s going to be heavy fighting inside of the Capitol complex. Didn’t your reconnaissance report several hundred battle droids inside of there?”

“You’re the one in command, sir, it’s your call,” said the Commander. “But she might have just as hard of a time inside of the complex than outside it, if you get my meaning.”

“Very well,” Master Nish relented. He let his hand off of my shoulder. “But don’t think I won’t say no next time you ask to come with me.”

“Yes Master,” I said sullenly. He turned away from me to discuss more details of the assault with the Commander. I rubbed the hilt of my lightsaber anxiously. I heard roaring and swooshing sounds above us. Starfighters came zooming out of the sky towards the Capitol buildings. A few droid starfighters took off from the Capitol to meet them but were quickly blasted away. But our fighters’ job was to keep the Separatists from escaping--those of us on the ground would do the heavy lifting. 

Our troops had already broken through the Separatist artillery in front of the Capitol and were keeping the droids from entering the central street while our battalion advanced. Master Nish and I were going to take our troops up the front steps of the central building. At a word from Master Nish, the Commander ordered two of our tanks to move up the central street. Once in range, they began to fire on the doors of the main Capitol building. Master Nish and Commander CC-2776 and myself followed at about a hundred yards behind, the battalion marching in an orderly file behind us. The other battalions we had called in to watch our flanks were engaged heavily on both sides. The Commander ordered his men to pick up the pace. Master Nish and I started to walk faster. Then to jog. When we were within a reasonable distance of the blown-up entrance, we ran with our lightsabers out, deflecting blaster shots from the droids (well, Master Nish did most of that, I wasn’t as good at that while running). 

If anyone had said we would be returning to this place with an army at our backs, I’d have said you were crazy. 

As soon as the doors of the Capitol had come down, the droids began shooting out of the hole but they didn’t come out to meet us: they were on the defensive.  
Master Nish told the Commander to have our tanks stand down once they’d taken out the Capitol doors, in order to minimize damage to the building as well as sentient casualties. Once we were close enough to the demolished entryway, we saw that Bheeg Wig’s security and the Capitol security were shooting from behind the droids. Nish ordered the Commander to harm as few sentients as necessary but to be especially careful of the Mashon Capitol security, since they were being forced to fight. Phish and I let some of the clone troopers cut ahead of us. We concentrated on cutting up the droids while the clones fought the security guards and arrested whomever they could. The Commander had a security lieutenant kneeling on the ground as the skirmish ended. Master Nish walked up to him.

“Can you tell us where Bheeg Wig and the Separatists are?”

“In the central control building,” the guard answered. 

I heard clanking coming from the inside of the building. The clones had heard it too.

“General! Droid reinforcements!” one of them shouted. The advancing droids began firing.

Master Nish looked up. He and several troopers charged headlong into the oncoming rush of battle droids. We were cutting them up left and right.

One of the clones got a hologram map from a security port and was able to ascertain quick directions to central control.

“It’s down this hallway. Follow me!”

“Right this way, sir,” the Commander told us. We followed the clone who’d found the directions, fighting our way through the droids as they came at us. Our guide showed us down the large central corridor of the main building. When we reached the stairs at the rear, we were met by about a hundred battle droids coming down the steps as we arrived. 

“Defensive positions!” shouted the commander. The clones fell back and rained blaster fire on the droids, some of them near the front kneeling down. Nish and I ducked behind a pillar to watch. When the troops had mowed down enough of the droids, the Commander stood up and raised his arm for the battalion to move forward. I drew my lightsaber and went out to get to the front of the column, but then Master Nish held me back.

“Commander, wait!”

The words had no sooner left my master’s mouth than there was an enormous explosion that shook the entire room. I ducked as my senses were enveloped by fire and smoke and dust. When the debris had somewhat settled, Nish and I stood up. I was coughing.

“Is everyone all right? Commander, report!” Nish shouted.

“The droids set off an explosive on the stairwell, sir,” said the Commander. “Troopers, call in, who’s still there?”

A handful of clones murmured and began to stand up and shake the dust from themselves. Some of them bent in shock over their fallen comrades, others tried to help their fellow soldiers to their feet. 

“I need Battalion 403 to come reinforce us!” the Commander radioed.

“Are the stairs still intact?” asked Nish.

“There’s a big hole in the center, sir, but we should be able to move up the sides,” said the Commander. He sent two troopers up the side of the stairway to check for more explosives. “Looks to be clear, sir.” 

“All right, then,” said Nish as we walked up to join him. “Whoever’s not too injured to fight, come up with us.”

“You heard the general, men!” shouted the Commander. 

A handful of troopers that were already on their feet started to head up the stairs. The Commander also asked for a few troops from the Battalion that was arriving to support us to come after our group. Master Nish and I drew our lightsabers and started to run up the stairs with the clones. It seemed like we’d done nothing but run for the last straight hour. 

All of the buildings in the Capitol complex were connected with wide, windowed walkways. At the top of the stairs, we turned right to reach the walkway that would take us to Central Control. The doors were sealed off, but our clones set off explosives to blast them open. Just on the other side were a group of battle droids. We entered that walkway shooting and slashing. But just when it looked like the coast was clear, we heard a metallic rolling sound. 

I’d heard about Trade Federation droidekas from other Jedi. The sight of five coming right at us was enough to make me nearly lose my lunch. 

“Yzil, stay behind me!” Nish shouted as the droidekas got onto their feet and activated their shields.

I wasn’t about to question Nish on this one. The droidekas shot ten times as fast as the other battle droids. My master had to do a mad dance with his lightsaber to keep them from hitting me. The clones with us couldn’t pull the triggers on their blasters fast enough. 

The droidekas hit several of the troopers standing in front, some of them fatally. Some of them yelled when they were hit. One of them got hit in the gaps between his armor and bled when he was on the floor.

“Everyone, take a few steps back!” shouted the Commander, gesturing with his hand. He took a few slow steps backwards. Master Nish and I and the clones did the same. The droidekas moved forward slowly after us, continuing to fire. I was expecting that we were going to make a full retreat and find some other way to get into Central Control.

But then the Commander took something small from his utility belt and threw it at one of the droidekas. The small thing, I guess, was some kind of a grenade. It rolled right under the shield of the droideka in the front of the group. And then it went off, electrocuting it. The droid stopped shooting and its shield flickered off. It contorted in what looked like some sort of droid agony as it was covered with electric bolts and fell to the floor. 

The commander shouted for several of the clones to throw their EMPs at the remaining droidekas. As they fell, they were blasted to pieces or cut up by Nish’s lightsaber. We started our advance down the walkway once again. 

The clones blasted down another door at the end of the walkway and we entered the Central Control building of the Capitol complex. We turned a corner and were met by Kamon Zar and a group of Bheeg Wig’s security, accompanied by a dozen or so battle droids. 

“Ah-ha Master Jedi!” said the brawny Devonarian, giving a laugh. “You said the Republic wasn’t interested in starting a war. I guess it’s a good thing my boss never agreed to any of your deals because you turned out to be a liar.”

“For the record, the Republic changed its mind without telling me sooner,” said Nish, inclining his lightsaber towards Zar. The clone troopers raised their blasters. Phish urged me mentally to get behind some of our troopers for cover. “I wish they had, really: it would have been a more effective bargaining tool.”

Zar laughed. “You must be joking. The Jedi don’t make threats like that.”

“What do you think I’m doing now?”

Zar threw back his head and laughed. “Take ‘em, boys.” The clones and the security guards started shooting each other. I stayed in the ranks of the clones, repulsing lasers with my lightsaber. Master Nish ran up to Kamon Zar and swatted his lightsaber at him. Zar ducked and they began fighting, Nish swinging his lightsaber and Zar throwing in punches and kicks. Occasionally he would shoot his blaster at close range and the bolt would flash brightly as it hit Nish’s saber blade immediately. It was kind of hard to watch with everything else going on. Phish ended up giving Zar a cut to the side. Zar collapsed against a wall, clutching his wound. He looked up at my master and muttered an oath. And then my master cut his head off. My master said afterwards that Kamon Zar’s death was justified--he was a bully and a murderer just like his master, but unlike Bheeg Wig wasn’t important in anyone’s politics.

Nish didn’t put away his lightsaber after finishing Zar. He instead raised it ahead and shouted, “Onward!” to the troopers. And as he led the charge he continued using it to hack at droids and security guards. I thought to myself as I followed them that it looked like my master was getting the hang of the whole military thing. 

We came to an elevator door that was guarded by a group of battle droids. We heard the clicking of their charging weapons as we rushed to fight them, but they never got out more than a few shots before we’d blasted and cut them to pieces. My master instructed the clones to blast open the elevator door. When the shaft was opened, the troopers got out their grappling hooks and Nish and I got out ours. The commander set a charge to open the door at the top of the shaft, and we climbed upward, Master Nish and I jumping dramatically out of the shaft with our lightsabers drawn. The person standing closest to the elevator door was none other that Bheeg Wig.

The ugly Trandoshan appeared shocked to see our weapons unsheathed at his neck and he raised his hands kind of belatedly. 

“Master Jedi,” said Bheeg Wig, giving a throaty laugh. “I had no idea you were so dramatic.”

The clone troopers climbed out of the elevator shaft after us. As they raised their blasters, the other sentients in the room raised their hands, the remaining security personnel lowering their weapons. They were outnumbered. 

“You would do well to surrender, sir,” said Master Nish.

“Yes, of course, I will,” said Bheeg Wig. “But, erm, I’m afraid I can’t surrender the planet to you. It’s under the control of the Separatists now.”

“That’s what you think!” shouted one of the sentients standing in the background, a Sullustan who was shaking himself free of a security guard. I recognized him as a member of Mashon’s ruling council. “Master Jedi, forgive us for not agreeing to the Republic’s terms sooner.”

“Your apology is accepted, councilor,” said Master Nish. “Although, I do regret that it took a show of force to convince you.”

“I’ve got some energy binders for this one, sir, if you would like,” said the clone Commander, holding out a pair of cuffs. 

“Yes, please,” said Master Nish, putting down his lightsaber and stepping away. Bheeg Wig had such wide wrists, I wondered if the Commander would be able to get the binders on, but the Commander stepped away and Wig lowered his cuffed wrists onto his belly. 

“Anyone else you’d like to arrest, sir?” the Commander asked. 

“Anyone who was working with this Separatist scum,” said Master Nish, eyeing Wig. “And their guards as well.”

The clones moved in and made the arrests. The members of the planetary council, including the Sullustan, came forward to thank us. 

There was a table in the room, and Master Nish invited them to sit down so we could finish our “earlier discussion.” Bheeg Wig was forced into a chair as well--Phish insisted that he would have to sign the treaty. The clones stood against the walls, guarding the other prisoners, while I stood behind my master. Master Nish was ready for a rest, but not before he finished the business we had come to Mashon to carry out in the first place. Master Nish gave the Mashon councilors a promise that the new Grand Army of the Republic would fight to liberate the planet from the droid armies and thereafter protect it from further Separatist invasion. The Mashon council, in return, offered to hold a referendum with its people to vote if the planet would remain in the Republic, and in the meantime continue trade with the Republic as normal. 

Seeing that we had broken their elevator earlier, the Clones broke open one of the windows and called for several gunships to carry the prisoners to the Resilient and the planetary council to a safer location. 

 

The battle was continuing in other parts of the city. Master Nish and I spent the rest of the day with the 137th as well as the other legions to destroy the droids that remained in Mashon City. I got a lot of experience working with the troopers, but I couldn’t keep their numbers straight. Master Nish told me I’d have to learn them later. 

By nightfall, the clones had set up a perimeter around the capital. Master Nish and I took a gunship to the Resilient to spend the night. I knew that this had been my first all-out battle, but I did not yet realize the enormity of what that meant.

We made a brief visit to the secure area to check on our prisoners. Bheeg Wig was pleased to see us least of all of them. 

“The Republic won’t get away with this,” he snapped. “The Separatists will come back to reinforce us with an even bigger droid army. We’ll see how long your clones last then.”

“I’m sure those clones will be up for the challenge,” said Master Nish, his arms folded behind his back. He turned to leave the holding area. I was about to follow him, but when his back was turned I stuck out my tongue at Bheeg Wig and left before he could respond. Master Nish knew what I had just done, but he didn’t particularly care at the moment. 

“What do you think, Yzil?” Nish said to me when I’d caught up with him. “Not bad for a day’s work?”

I laughed quietly. “I should think so. I’m sorry I kept getting all of the clones’ numbers mixed up, though, during the fight this evening.”

Master Nish’s face crinkled with a smile. “It may take some getting used to, leading an army.”

“Well, in my defense they all look the same to me.”

“True, but you will learn better, as time passes and you continue working with them.”

“Are we going to continue to work with them, Master?”

We were alone in a hallway on the battleship. Master Nish folded his arms. “I am afraid so. I do not normally approve of meeting violence with violence, but if the Separatists are going to fight a war, then so will the Republic. Not every situation that the Jedi will confront in the galaxy from now on will be a battle, but the situations we will face will call for troops more and more frequently. And so every Jedi will have their part to play, in leading this army and making sure they fight for what is right.” He looked down at me--I was now getting too tall for him to really bend down to my eye level. “Yzil, when I ask you to do something on your own, or give you a separate command, I need you to accept the order unconditionally. These clone troopers expect you to lead them to battle. I know that you are young and you want to stay close to me, but we are now in a war. You will be expected to do much on your own.”

“Do you need me to grow up, then?” I asked him.

“That is one thing about wars, young one,” said my master. “They require children to grow up. They cannot be fought by the innocent, or by people who don’t know what they’re doing.”

“I understand, I said, trying to push away the sinking feeling in my stomach.

Master Nish patted my shoulder. “There will...there will still be time for us to be together, young one. But our task now is to help end this war as quickly as possible. The best way to resolve the problem at hand is to give it our full attention. I don’t like how this army came out of nowhere to help us or that we are now expected to lead them. But for the time being, let us not question their help, and instead put our new resource to use.” He stood back and looked at me. “I hope you will be up to the responsibility, young one.”

“With your guidance, Master, I will be.” We bowed to each other. Like him, I hoped that this war would not last for long. Neither of us knew, however, that it was going to be a loooooong three years.


End file.
